Gingerbread

I have to admit that I had never made a gingerbread house. It seems like the holidays always fly by and we never get around to it. So... I was stoked when my sister-in-law threw a gingerbread house making party. I found the gingerbread recipe on About.com, but instead of using the icing recipe I used the royal icing powder mix from Wilton. The recipe made a good dough for the house and for cookies. However, the first batch of cookies I baked WAY to long and they turned into little gingerbread rocks. The dough turned out really dark because the molasses I had on hand were blackstrap molasses. It still tasted really yummy though. The first house below I decorated and the next one my husband, Dan, decorated (notice the fully landscaped yard)!